MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL #1 scic comic saskatchewan council for international cooperation Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger series IN THIS ISSUE - POVERTY
Millennium Development Goal # 1 : Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger What is Extreme Poverty and Hunger and Why is it Fundamental to Eradicate it? Extreme poverty is officially defined as living on less than a dollar (US) a day. Because a dollar a day is not enough to live on no matter where you live, it means people living in extreme poverty are hungry and can get sick easily. Ending extreme poverty and hunger is really important and is the base for achieving all the other millennium development goals. Treating girls fairly, helping kids go to school, fighting HIV AIDS and protecting the environment can all help to reduce poverty and likewise, reducing poverty can help to meet these other goals. Poverty and hunger go together. Getting enough to eat and being healthy lets you work, go to school, and feed and support your family. This goal aims to get rid of the cycle of poverty and hunger by cutting in half the proportion of people living in hunger and the the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by 2015. Quick Poverty facts More than 800 million people go to bed hungry each day. 1 in 6 people live on less than a dollar U.S.a day The poverty rate for First Nations children in Canada is at least double the national average Every 3.6 seconds a person dies from starvation Seven out of every ten people in the world s poorest countries are employed in agriculture Over 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihood The three richest people in the world control more wealth than 600 million people living in the world s poorest countries The world produces enough food to feed everyone. The problem is in the distribution of food and resources needed to access it Sources: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/07/millennium.internationalaidanddevelopment10 www.endpoverty2015.org/ www.who.int/mdg/goals/goal1/poverty_and_health/en/index.html scic saskatchewan council for international cooperation
Ways to make a difference in your community: Raise awareness in your school: Hungry4Change is just one great way to learn about food issues and poverty in the world. Oxfam offers organizing toolkits, fact sheets, and plenty of ideas on how to hold a hungry4change banquet or fast in your school or community to raise awareness about the link between poverty and hunger and world trade. Visit www.oxfam.ca Take Action: Sign on to the Make Poverty History campaign at www.makepoverthistory.ca Even if you re too young to vote, email your politician to let them know you care about poverty at home and abroad and let them know they should too Wear a white band to support the campaign and spread the word Fundraise: Organizing a small or large-scale fundraiser in your school or community (even if it is just convincing your friends and/or siblings to donate their allowance to a project) can go a long way! Here are some ideas of projects for which other student groups have fundraised: Buy livestock for families in low income communities through organizations like Heifer International s Passing on the Gift Campaign or Oxfam Unwrapped. Sponsor a child through Foster Parents Plan s Plan International Look into local anti-poverty initiatives that you would like to whom you would like to contribute money Some Organizations and campaigns that work to end extreme poverty and hunger: Canadian Hunger Foundation-Partners in Development (CHF): CHF is a non-profit Canadian organization whose mission it is to address the persistent cycle of rural poverty. They have over 800 projects in over 40 countries around the world. They are committed to a world where people can help themselves through access to land, water, technology, and energy to improve their lives. Make Poverty History Canada: Make Poverty History is a global campaign that aims to end poverty in the world by engaging people to get involved, take action, and add their voice to the millions of people in the world making a difference. The Canadian campaign has three aims that are at the heart of poverty and hunger: more and better aid, trade justice, debt cancellation, and an end to child poverty in Canada. Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC): SCIC is an umbrella organization for groups working on international development issues in Saskatchewan. We educate others on the Millennium Development Goals and other international issues through our youth program and other public engagement initiatives. We also contribute to poverty eradication through our funding programs which support our member agencies who do great international development work overseas and here in Canada! Please visit our website to find out more about us and about our many members and partners who are working on poverty eradication: www.earthbeat.sk.ca local Food Banks: Food banks offer not only food but also self-help programs. They may not be long-term solutions but are essential for helping people right now to get a good meal while the big issues that cause poverty are being resolved. Contact them to find out how to donate food or volunteer! scic saskatchewan council for international cooperation
scic saskatchewan council for international cooperation Credits: Comic art work: Heather Hale Comic Storyline: Allan Dotson This comic is part of an ongoing project of SCIC Youth. Comics will be produced for each of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Please watch for future issues with new characters in the coming months! Please contact us for more information or to order copies: SCIC 2138 McIntyre St. Regina, SK. S4P 2R7 Ph: (306) 757-4669 scic@web.ca SCIC Saskatoon #501, 230 22nd St.E. Saskatoon, SK S7K 0E9 Ph: (306) 956-0622 scicyouth@earthbeat.sk.ca The millennium development goals At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, 189 Governments signed the Millennium Declaration on behalf of the countries they represented. Eight millennium development goals were adopted, committing rich and poor countries to work together in a global partnership to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school, promote gender equality, improve the health of mothers and children, reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and protect the environment all by 2015. 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2. Achieve universal primary education 3. Promote gender equality and empower women 4. Reduce child mortality 5. Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a global partnership for development UN Targets for MDG #1 : Erdicate poverty and extreme hunger: Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day. Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.